Oman’s State Budget Achieves RO 145 Million Surplus

Muscat: The State Budget achieved a surplus of RO 145 million at the of January 2023, compared to a surplus of RO 18 million registered over the same period in 2022, according to the Fiscal Performance Monthly Bulletin published by the Ministry of Finance.

Public revenue at the end of January 2023 surged by 22% to reach RO 982 compared to RO 804 million registered over the same period in 2022. This is mainly due to an increase in oil and gas revenues, representing 88% of total public revenue.

Net oil revenue amounted to RO 602 million at the end of January 2023, up by 9% compared to RO 554 million achieved over the same period in 2022. This is driven by higher oil prices of USD 91 per barrel, as well as an increase in oil production to 1,063,000 barrels per day. Furthermore, gas revenue rose by RO 39 million, i.e., 18% compared to the same period in 2022.

Current revenue at the end of January 2023 amounted to RO 122 million, up by RO 91 million when compared to RO 31 million achieved over the same period in 2022.

Public spending at the end of January 2023 amounted to RO 837 million, increasing by RO 51 million, i.e. 7% when compared to the same period in 2022.

Development expenditure of ministries and government units amounted to RO 1 million, representing 0.1% of total development spending (RO 900 million), allocated for 2023.

Total current expenditure at the end of January 2023 amounted to RO 299 million compared to RO 296 million registered over the same period in 2022.

Total contributions and other expenses at the end of January 2023 amounted to RO 37 million, constituting a rise by 19.3% when compared to RO 31 million registered over the same period in 2022. Oil product subsidy amounted to RO 4 million by the end of January 2023. Additionally, an amount of RO 33 million transferred to future debt obligations budget-item.

The government repaid loans during January 2023 that amount to RO 511 million, which primarily constituted RO 480 million maturing international bonds. This helped cut down the total Government Debt to RO 17.2 billion at the end of January 2023.

Moreover, the IMF expects Oman’s real gross domestic product (GDP) growth to reach 4.1% in 2023 and 1.9% 2024. The IMF also expects the current balance account will achieve a positive growth of 2.7% in 2023.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Finance is using the Debt Management System (DMS) to promote effective management of public debt by recording, reporting and analyzing debt portfolios; providing tools to organize and track debts and prioritizing payments and developing a plan to repay debts in a timely and effective manner. – ONA